"Tell me all about it, Jo. I am not quite satisfied, but I can't blame you, for I
know how willingly you sacrificed your vanity, as you call it, to your love. But,
my dear, it was not necessary, and I'm afraid you will regret it one of these
days," said Mrs. March.
"No, I won't!" returned Jo stoutly, feeling much relieved that her prank was
not entirely condemned.
"What made you do it?" asked Amy, who would as soon have thought of
cutting off her head as her pretty hair.
"Well, I was wild to do something for Father," replied Jo, as they gathered
about the table, for healthy young people can eat even in the midst of trouble. "I
hate to borrow as much as Mother does, and I knew Aunt March would croak,
she always does, if you ask for a ninepence. Meg gave all her quarterly salary
toward the rent, and I only got some clothes with mine, so I felt wicked, and was
bound to have some money, if I sold the nose off my face to get it."
"You needn't feel wicked, my child! You had no winter things and got the
simplest with your own hard earnings," said Mrs. March with a look that
warmed Jo's heart.
"I hadn't the least idea of selling my hair at first, but as I went along I kept
thinking what I could do, and feeling as if I'd like to dive into some of the rich
stores and help myself. In a barber's window I saw tails of hair with the prices
marked, and one black tail, not so thick as mine, was forty dollars. It came to me
all of a sudden that I had one thing to make money out of, and without stopping
to think, I walked in, asked if they bought hair, and what they would give for
mine."
"I don't see how you dared to do it," said Beth in a tone of awe."Oh, he was a little man who looked as if he merely lived to oil his hair. He
rather stared at first, as if he wasn't used to having girls bounce into his shop and
ask him to buy their hair. He said he didn't care about mine, it wasn't the
fashionable color, and he never paid much for it in the first place. The work put
into it made it dear, and so on. It was getting late, and I was afraid if it wasn't
done right away that I shouldn't have it done at all, and you know when I start to
do a thing, I hate to give it up. So I begged him to take it, and told him why I